Meralco seizes 2-1 series lead vs. Ginebra despite endgame lapses

Endgame collapse nearly cost Meralco the game, but the Bolts hung tough to hack out an 87-80 Game 3 win against Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Philippine Cup semifinals on Wednesday at the Dasmariñas Arena.

Enjoying a 17-point lead after a Raymond Almazan layup halfway through the fourth period, the Bolts suddenly turned lax as the Gin Kings staged a comeback surge led by LA Tenorio, Nards Pinto, and Von Pessumal. 

Ginebra, who drew first blood in the series before succumbing to Meralco in Game 2, unleashed a huge 14-2 rampage with Tenorio burying a triple over Alvin Pasaol before his steal led to an easy layup for Pinto as they trimmed the deficit to just five with 24.8 seconds left, 85-80.

Pasaol then went wide on his two freebies, allowing Ginebra to further slice the gap but Tenorio and David Murrell missed out their triple and putback attempts, respectively. 

"Those last five minutes, we shouldn't do that. We're up already [but] we were just floating, we weren't communicating. We can't have that," Meralco head coach Luigi Trillo said. 

"But the first three quarters, at least, it's a little bit sound. I think we can still improve on a lot of things."

Allein Maliksi picked up where he left off, pouring in a team-high of 16 points to follow up on his 25-point outing the last time while Chris Newsome and Bong Quinto starred with 14 and 10 markers apiece as they improved to 2-1 in the best-of-seven semis affair.

Several Ginebra stars suffered an offensive drought with Christian Standhardinger and Scottie Thompson being limited to just 10 and eight points each, but Japeth Aguilar and Maverick Ahanmisi carried the load by dropping 15 and 13 markers, respectively. 

Meralco will eye to capture a commanding 3-1 lead come Game 4 on Sunday. 

Scores:

Meralco 87 – Maliksi 16, Newsome 14, Quinto 10, Banchero 9, Hodge 9, Almazan 8, Caram 6, Bates 6, Torres 3, Pascual 2, Rios 2, Dario 2, Mendoza 0, Pasaol 0.

Ginebra 80 – J.Aguilar 15, Ahanmisi 13, Standhardinger 10, Tenorio 9, Thompson 8, Pinto 6, Cu 5, Pessumal 5, Pringle 4, Onwubere 3, R.Aguilar 2, Murrell 0.

Quarters: 31-18, 48-34, 72-59, 87-80.

—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News